Motor vehicle owners often personalize their vehicles to express themselves. Examples of articles used to personalize motor vehicles include bumper stickers, window decals, window flags, decorative windshield sun shades, magnetic signs, vanity license plates, dashboard figurines, antenna toppers, custom hood ornaments, and rear view mirror hanging decorations. Many of these articles are challenged by limited visibility, unclear messaging, and unremarkable impact on the intended audiences, particularly when briefly viewed on a moving vehicle. Motor vehicle owners who desire vehicle personalization articles that are quickly understood and are more impressive and attention-grabbing for the conveyance of their public broadcast must settle for these conventional articles.
Vehicle rooftops provide a prominent location for display purposes due to their height and unobstructed visibility by pedestrians and other drivers. Additionally, vehicle rooftops can accommodate large displays without obstructing the view of the driver. Unfortunately, displays mounted on vehicle rooftops are fully subjected to forces induced by wind and vehicle motion. To promote durability and safety, vehicle rooftop displays are typically mounted in a permanent fashion using adhesives, mechanical fasteners, or frames. These permanent mounting methods are used on taxis and other commercial vehicles but are typically unappealing to private vehicle owners. Alternative displays such as stickers, small vehicle decorations, and signs made from flat magnetic sheets reduce the impact of external forces by limiting the exposed surface area but these alternatives do not achieve the same visual impact as large rooftop displays.
Presently, the prominent rooftop displays that are both conveniently removable and resistant to environmental and driving forces are commercial rooftop signs, typically used by companies that incorporate the use of private vehicles in the delivery of their commercial products or services. A common example is rooftop signs used in conjunction with pizza delivery services.
While these commercial rooftop signs are both visible and removable, they typically rely on text or flat images to communicate their message but not their shape. Simple, common shapes are routinely reused for many different purposes and messages. Even when the shape of the sign is linked to the message, that shape is static and cannot be easily modified without replacing the entire display system.
While suitable for a commercial entity that has a single, consistent brand or message, current vehicle display options are not well suited to individuals who desire a more interesting, more artistic display and who are interested in communicating different messages based on changes in the seasons, their activities and interests, their mood, or other factors. Purchasing a new display system each time a change is desired is neither convenient nor affordable for most individuals. There has been no safe, convenient, affordable, and flexible way to blend the highly visible location offered by a vehicle rooftop with the versatile and stylish vehicle personalization needs of individual vehicle owners.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide display systems and methods that avoid the afore-described problems and drawbacks.